Boy 412: Magyk
by Allstar Weekend Fanatic
Summary: When Boy 412 woke up one morning, he expected a normal day of torture. But when he went unconscious from the cold, he wakes up and gets thrown into a world of magyk, dragon boats, rings, and lost princesses. Join 412, Jenna, and Nicko on an adventure to
1. Chapter 1

So, here's Septimus Heap: Magyk but just in Boy 412's (Septimus Heap) point of view. I will try to update every week at least once or twice depending on how long or short a chapter is. Sorry if my vocabulary is not _English,_ I'm an American, so I don't really write like Angie Sage.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Angie Sage

Wizard Tower

I woke up this morning to the wonderful sound of the Chief Cadet yelling in my ears to get up. I jumped up out of bed, fixed my blanket up neatly, and ran outside for roll call. You had thirty seconds before roll call started, so if you don't get up, the Chief Cadet takes pleasure in pouring cold icy water on you.

After roll call we went to the mess hall. Every day we had the same cold lumpy porridge, which we had to eat in five minutes. Then, when breakfast was finished, the Chief Cadet would rattle off a list of names and their duties for the morning: Expendable Boy 400, exercise and fitness; Expendable Boy 401, tracking; Expendable Boy 402…

And finally, "Expendable Boy 412, guard duty."

_Yes, _I thought, _now I don't have to worry about anyone yelling in my face!_

I got on a little wagon and they dropped me off at the Wizard Tower to guard. Actually, we weren't guarding at all, we were, in fact, spying on the wizards. Personally, I don't think the Wizards were fooled. I'm sure they knew that we were there to spy on them, not protect them. The Young Army can't seriously believe that the Wizards believed that a _boy_ is going to be able to protect them. A full-grown Wizard, I'm sure, can protect themself.

After awhile, I got bored so I started throwing snowballs at a stray cat. Then, I accidently threw one on someone's silk cloak. Oops. I looked up and got the surprise of a lifetime.

It was the ExtraOrdinary Wizard, Marcia Overstrand.

"Don't do that!" she snapped, brushing the snow off her cloak.

Marcia Overstrand was a very intimidating person. She was a very tall woman with dark curly hair. She had the same piercing green eyes all Wizards have. She had on her winter ExtraOrdinary Uniform. The purple double silk cloak was outlined with the softest indigo blue angora fur. It fell nicely from her broad shoulders, and gathered itself around her pointy purple boots. Her boots shimmered from the light reflected from the gold and platinum ExtraOrdinary Wizard belt. And, around her neck was the Akhu Amulet, the symbol and source of her power.

"How old are you?" she asked accusingly.

I blushed. No one like Marcia had ever looked at me before, let alone spoken to me.

"T-ten, Madam."

"Then why aren't you in school?" she demanded.

I felt proud…sort of. "I have no need of school. I am in the Young Army. We are the Pride of Today, and the Warriors of Tomorrow."

"Aren't you cold?" Marcia asked me.

"N-no, Madam. We are trained not to feel the cold." But even as I said that, I shivered.

"Humph." Marcia Overstrand, the most powerful wizard in the Castle, stomped off through the snow, leaving me to another four hours of boredom.

I leaned against the Tower and laid my head against it. I closed my eyes and accidently fell asleep.

When I opened my eyes, I could not understand what was going on. All I could figure out was that I was not where I was supposed to be, and that I did not know who I was with, but there was a boy, a girl, and…two wizards.

The girl stroked my shave head."Your safe now," she told me."You're with us. I'm Jenna and this is Nicko. What's your name?"

"Boy 412." I mumbled. _Please let this be a dream_, I thought.

"Boy Four One Two…?" Jenna, the girl, repeated, puzzled." But that's a number. No one has a number for a name."

I just stared at the girl. Then, since I didn't like the situation I was in, I closed my eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep. I woke up when something cold touched my foot. I sat bolt upright and stared around the room. I didn't like that I was still with the strange people.

Any minute now the Young Army Commander would come for me and then I would be in real trouble. Consorting with the enemy-that was what they called it when someone talked with Wizards. And here I was with two of them. _And_ an old Wizard ghost by the look of it. Not to mention the two weirdo kids, one with some kind of hold circle on her head and the other with those tell-tale Wizard green eyes. And the filthy dog. They'd taken my uniform too and put me in civilian clothes. I could be shot as a spy. I groaned and put my head in my hands.

The girl, Jenna, reached over and put her arm around me. "It's alright," she whispered. "We'll look after you."

The Wizard ghost was looking agitated. "That Linda woman. She's told them where you've gone. They're coming here. They're sending the Assassin."

"Oh, no," Marcia said. "I'll CharmLock the main doors."

"Too late," gasped the ghost. "She's already in."

"But how?"

"Somebody left the door open." The ghost said.

"Silas, you idiot!" snapped Marcia.

"Right," the man, Silas, said making for the door. "We'll be off then. And I'll be taking Jenna with me. She's obviously not safe with you, Marcia."

"What?" squeaked Marcia. "She's not safe anywhere, you fool."

"Don't you call me a fool!" spluttered Silas. "I am just as intelligent as you Marcia. Just because I am only an Ordinary-"

"Stop it!" the ghost shouted. "For goodness' sake she's coming up the stairs."

Shocked, we all stopped and listened. All was quiet. Far too quiet. Except for the whisper of the silver stairs steadily as they slowly brought the passenger up the Wizard Tower right to the very top, to Marcia's doors.

Jenna looked scared. Nicko put his arm around her. "I'll keep you safe, Jen," he said. "You'll be safe with me."

Suddenly the dog let out a bloodcurdling howl that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand right up.

_Crash! _The door burst open. Silhouetted against the light stood a very tall and scary looking woman. Her face was pale as she looked around the room. In her right hand she held a pistol. She stepped forward.

"You are under arrest." She said menacingly. "You are not required to say anything at all. You will be taken from here to a place and-"

I stood up trembling. They were going to shoot me-just as I had expected. Slowly, I walked over to her. She stared at me coldly.

"Out of my way, boy," snapped the mean lady. She struck out at me and sent me crashing to the floor. _Why had she hit me?_

"Don't do that!" yelled Jenna. She rushed over to me. As she knelt down, the lady grabbed her.

Jenna twisted around. "Let go of me!" she yelled.

"Keep still, Queenling," the lady sneered. "There's someone who wants to see you. But he wants to see you-dead."

_Oh, they aren't here for me. They're here for Jenna, the long-lost Princess. They aren't going to shoot me_, I thought to myself.

The Assassin raised the silver pistol to Jenna's head.

_Crack!_

A bright white light flew from Marcia's outstretched hand. It knocked the Assassin off her feet and Jenna clear from her grasp.

"Begird and Preserve!" shouted Marcia. A brilliant white sheet of light sprung up like a bright blade from the floor and encircled us, cutting us from the unconscious Assassin.

Then Marcia threw open the hatch that covered, I assume, the Rubbish Chute.

"It's the only way out." She said. "Silas, you go first. Try to do a Cleaning Spell as you go down."

"What?"

"You heard what I said. Get in, will you!" snapped Marcia, giving Silas a hefty shove through the open hatch. Silas tumbled into the chute, and with a yell, he was gone.

Jenna pulled me to my feet. "Go on," she said and pushed me headfirst into the chute. Then she jumped in, followed by the others.


	2. Chapter 2

The Rubbish Chute

The inside of the Rubbish Chute was cold and slippery, like ice. It was made from highly polished black slate, seamlessly cut and joined by the Master Masons, who built the Tower many hundreds of years ago. The drop was steep, too steep to control over how you fell, so I tumbled and twisted this way and that, rolling from side to side.

But the worst thing was the dark. It was thick, deep, and impenetrable.

I was in no state to feel sorry for anyone, least of all myself. When the mad girl had pushed me into the abyss I had instinctively curled myself up into a ball and had spent the entire descent t down the Wizard Tower rattling from side to side of the chute like a marble in a drainpipe. I felt battered and bruised bit no more terrified than I had been since I awoke to find myself in the company of two Wizards, a Wizard boy, and a Wizard ghost. As I slowed down as the chute began to level itself out, my brain began to work again. The few thoughts that I had managed to put together came to the conclusion that this must be a Test. The Young Army was full of Tests. Terrifying surprise Tests sprung on you in the middle of the night, just as you had fallen asleep and made your cold narrow bed as warm and comfortable as was possible. But this was a Big Test. This must be one of those do-or-die Tests. I gritted my teeth; I wasn't so sure but this felt horribly like this was the Die part of the Test. Whatever it was, there wasn't much I could Do. So I closed my eyes tightly and kept rolling along.

The chute took us ever downward. It turned left and traveled underneath rooms, bore right, and then straight on where it burrowed through the thick walls of the underground kitchens that served the Palace. This is where things became particularly messy. The Kitchen maids were still busy cleaning up after the Supreme Custodian's midday banquet, and the hatches in the kitchen, which were not far above us in the rubbish chute, opened with alarming frequency and showered us with the mixed up remains of the feast.

At last, the chute took us away from the kitchens, and things became slightly cleaner. I relaxed a little but suddenly the chute dipped sharply under the Castle walls toward its final destination at the riverside rubbish dump.

I finally slid to a halt behind Silas, the Wizard, and then Jenna slammed into me, followed by the others.

"Dad?" Jenna's voice called out of the darkness. "Is that you, Dad?"

"Yes, poppet," whispered Silas.

"Where are we, Dad," Nicko whispered hoarsely.

The poor chump sounded scared. _Wuss, if you can't do this, try going into the forest at night_, I thought.

"Why have we stopped?" hissed Marcia.

"There's a blockage." whispered Silas.

"Bother," muttered Marcia.

"_Dad_. I want to get out, Dad," gasped Nicko.

"Nicko?" whispered Silas. "You okay?"

"No…"

"It's the rat door!" said Marcia triumphantly. "There's a grille to keep the rats out of the chute. It was put up after Endor found a rat in her hot pot. Open it, Silas."

"I can't get to it. There's all this rubbish in the way."

"If you'd done a Cleaning Spell, like I asked you, there wouldn't be, would there?"

"Marcia," hissed Silas. "When you think you are about to die, a spot of house-keeping is not a number-one priority."

"_Dad_," said Nicko desperately.

"I'll do it, then," snapped Marcia. She clicked her fingers and recited something under her breath. There was a muffled _clang_ as the rat door swung open and a _swish_ as the rubbish obligingly hurled itself out of the chute and tumbled down onto the chute.

We were free.

The full moon which was rising above the river, shone its clear white light into the blackness of the chute and guided us out to the place we had all been longing to reach.

The Riverside Amenity Rubbish Dump.

As we made our way down the rubbish dump, I noticed someone walking, no, not walking, jogging, toward us.

"_Silas Heap_!" The woman yelled angrily.

We jumped out of our skins and stared at her.

"_Shush_!" The other four whispered as loudly as they dared.

"I will not _shush_!" she declared. "What do you think you are doing, Silas Heap? Leaving your wife for this floozie." She waggled her forefinger disapprovingly at Marcia.

"_Floozie_?" gasped Marcia.

"And taking these poor children with you," she told Silas. "How _could_ you?" _What is she going on about?_

Silas waded through the rubbish toward the strange lady.

"_What_ are you talking about?" Silas demanded. "And will you please be _quiet_?"

"_Shush_!"

At last she quieted down.

"Don't do it, Silas," she whispered hoarsely. "Don't leave your lovely wife and family. Please."

_Oh, so that's what the fuss was all about._

Silas looked confused. "I'm not," he said. "Who told you that?"

"You're not?"

"_No_!"

"_Shushhh_!"

It took most of the long stumble down the dump to explain to the lady, whose name I found out was Sally, what had happened. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open as Silas told her what he had to in order to get her on their side-which was pretty much everything.

"Right," she said authoritatively as we reached the solid ground at the foot of the dump. "I think we can expect the Hunter and his Pack to be sent after us any minute now."

I shivered. As if the Assassin wasn't bad enough, they now had to send the Hunter. Great. Just what I needed.

"I've filled the chute back up with rubbish and done a Lockfast and Weld Spell on the rat door," Marci said sounding calm. "So with any luck, he'll think we're still trapped in there. But it won't delay him long. And then he'll come looking and asking."

"Right then," said Sally briskly. "We'll have to get you all far away with the pixies by then, won't we?"

Sally took us to the bunkhouse at the back of the café. The bunkhouse was empty this time of the day. Sally showed us where the clean clothes were and told us to take as much as we needed. It was going to be a long cold night. I knew about those. She quickly filled a bucket of hot water so we could wash off the worst of the mess from the chute and then she rushed out saying, "I'll see you down at the quay in ten minutes. You can have my boat."

Jenna and Nicko looked too pleased to get rid of their filthy clothes, but I refused to do anything. I had had enough changes in one day, and I was determined to hang onto what I had, even if it was a filthy pair of Wizard pajamas.

Eventually, Marcia used a cleaning spell on me, followed by some kind of clothes-changing spell to get me into the thick fisherman's sweater, trousers and a sheepskin jacket plus a bright red beanie hat that Silas had found me.

Ten minutes later we were all down at the quay. Sally and her sailing boat were waiting for us.

Marcia looked at the boat. "How does it work, then?" She asked Sally.

_Seriously?_ I thought.

Nicko butted in. "Sails," he said. "She sails."

"Who sails?" asked Marcia, confused.

_She did not just ask that._

Nicko was patient. "The _boat_ does."

"You'd better be off," she said, glancing back at the rubbish dump. "I've put some paddles in, just in case you needed them. And some food. Her, I'll untie the rope and hang on to it while you all get aboard."

Jenna scrambled in first, grabbing me by the arm and taking me with her. I resisted for a moment but then gave in. I was getting very tired.

Nicko jumped in next, then Silas propelled a somewhat reluctant Marcia off the quay and into the boat. That's something the ExtraOrdinary Wizard and I have in common, we both hate boats.

"What's that awful smell?" she muttered.

"Fish," said Nicko.

Silas jumped in with the dog, and _Muriel_, Sally's boat, settled in the water a little lower.

"I'll push you off now," said Sally anxiously.

She threw the rope to Nicko, who skillfully caught it and stowed it neatly in the prow of the boat.

Marcia grabbed the tiller, unfortunately, the sails flapped wildly, and Muriel took an unpleasant sharp turn to the left.

"Shall I take the tiller?" Nicko offered.

"Take the what? Oh, this handle thing here? Very well, Nicko. I don't wanna tire myself." Marcia wrapped her cloak around her and shuffled awkwardly to the side of the boat.

The dog was very excited. You could tell because it was wagging its tail in Marcia's face.

"Shove over, you daft dog," said Silas, pushing it up at the prow where he could put his long wolfhound nose into the air and sniff all the water smells. Then Silas squashed himself beside Marcia while Jenna and I were curled up on the other side of the boat.

"Where are we going?" Nicko asked.

"Aunt Zelda," said Silas, "we'll go and stay with Aunt Zelda."

The wind caught Muriel's sails and she picked up speed, heading toward the fast current in the middle of the river.

"The keeper of Marram Marshes?" Marcia asked.

"Yes," said Silas. "We'll be safe there. She's got her cottage permanently Enchanted now, after she was raided by the Quake Ooze Brownies last winter. No one will ever find it."

"Very well," said Marcia. "We'll go to Aunt Zelda."


	3. Chapter 3

Septimus Heap: Magyk in Boy 412's (Septimus Heap) point of view.

Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Angie Sage

The Chase

We were a few miles downriver and the boat running with the wind. Nicko guided the boat along the channel that wound down the middle of the river, where the water flowed swift and deep. The spring tide was ebbing fast and taking us with it, while the wind had risen enough to make the water choppy and send _Muriel_ bouncing through the waves.

The full moon rode high in the sky casting a bright silver light over the river, lighting our way. The river widened as it traveled ever onward toward the sea. I began to feel uncomfortably small in such a large expanse of water. Jenna was sitting on the wooden deck, resting against the hull and holding the rope for Nicko. The rope was attached to a small triangular sail at the prow that tugged and pulled with the wind.

I lay curled up beside Jenna. Once she had pulled me inside the boat, I had decided there was nothing I could do anymore and gave up my struggle against the Wizards and the weirdo kids. So when _Muriel_ had rounded Raven's Rock and I could no longer see the Castle, I had simply curled up into a ball and went to sleep.

Once again, my dreams were interrupted when my head hit the deck. I looked around me unhappily. Why was I still in the boat with all the Wizards? What did they want me for?

Jenna thrust a paddle into my hand.

"Paddle!" she told me. "As fast as you can!" Jenna's tone of voice reminded me of my drill teacher. I put the paddle into the water and paddled as fast as I could.

Slowly, far too slowly, _Muriel_ crept toward the Marram Marshes while a searchlight swung backward and forward across the water. I knew that the searchlight was coming from a bullet boat that most likely had the Hunter sitting in the front.

"Marcia," said Jenna," we're not going to reach the marshes in time. You _must_ do something. _Now_."

"Very well," agreed Marcia. "I could try a Fog. I can do that in fifty-three seconds. If it's cold and damp enough. Everyone stop paddling. Keep still. And quiet. Very quiet."

As we all fell quiet I could hear the rhythmic splashes of the bullet boat's oars.

Marcia stood up, then leaned against the mast to steady herself. She took a deep breath and threw her arms wide, her cloak flying out like a pair of purple wings.

"Murken Wake!" the ExtraOrdinary Wizard whispered as loud as she dared. "Murken Wake and Refuge Make!"

Thick white clouds gathered themselves together in the bright moonlit sky, quickly obscuring the moon and bringing down a deep chill into the night air. In the darkness all became deathly still as the first delicate tendrils of mist started rising from the black water as far as the eye could see. Faster and faster the tendrils grew, gathering together and growing into thick swathes of Fog, as the mist from the marshes rolled over the water to join them. In the very center sat _Muriel_.

Soon _Muriel_ was blanketed by a deep white thickness. I started shivering badly, still chilled from my time under the snow.

"Fifty-three seconds precisely," muttered Marcia. "Not bad."

"Shhh!" somebody whispered.

"_Stop_!" the Hunter's voice boomed through the Fog. The splash of the oars ceased. They sounded close. Close enough t o reach out and touch. Or just close enough for the Hunter to leap out onto Muriel's deck. That was still too close.

I continued shivering and Jenna put her arm around me and pulled me closer, obviously trying to warm me up. If I wasn't so scared and tense I probably would have blushed. I started listening to the Hunter's voice.

"We have them!" the Hunter was saying. "This is a Hexed Fog if I ever saw one. And what do you always find in the middle of a Hexed Fog? One Hexing Wizard. And her accomplices." His low, self-satisfying chuckle drifted through the Fog.

"Give…yourselves…up." The Hunter's disembodied voice enveloped _Muriel_. "The Qu- the Princess has nothing to fear from us. Neither do the rest of you. We are only concerned for your own safety and wish to escort you back to the Castle before you have an unfortunate accident."

These people were trying to escape from the law and needed to face the consequences. Instead they were running away. If I ruined their plans maybe I would get promoted to Cadet Boy 412. So I made up my mind and took a deep breath to yell. But Jenna clamped her hand tightly around her mouth. I struggled with her and tried to push her away, but she grabbed my arms with her other hand and held them tightly against my sides. She was strong and quick. I was no match for her, thin and weak as I was.

I was furious. My last chance to redeem myself had been thwarted. I could have returned to the Young Army as a hero, having bravely foiled the Wizard's attempt to escape. Instead I had the Princess's grubby little hand shoved over my mouth, which was making me feel sick. _And_ she was stronger than me. That wasn't right. I'm the boy and she's just a stupid girl. In my anger I kicked out and hit the deck with a loud thump. At once, Nicko was on me, pinning my legs down and holding me so tightly that I was completely unable to move or make another sound.

The damage was done. The Hunter was loading his pistol.

"Sir!" came the shout of an oarsman. "They're trying to outrun us, sir!"

The sounds of the pistol being primed ceased. [Choice of swear word here] The Hunter swore.

"Follow them, you idiots!" he screamed at the oarsmen.

Slowly the bullet boat was getting farther away from us. "Faster!" the Hunter yelled angrily. The bullet boat was long gone.

"For goodness' sake, get this wretched boat moving, Nicko," snapped Marcia.

"Someone's got to paddle it, then," muttered Nicko. "And it would help if I could see where I was going."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Midnight At the Beach

The boat finally stopped and Jenna still had me facedown on the deck in an armlock.

"Let him go, Jen," said Nicko.

"Why?" demanded Jenna.

"He's only a silly boy."

Silly? I will have you shot, when I get back to the Young Army, for that!

"But he nearly got us all killed." She said angrily. "We saved his life when he was buried in the snow and he betrayed us."

I stayed silent. Buried in the snow? Saved my life? All I remembered was falling asleep outside the Wizard Tower then waking up prisoner in Marcia's rooms.

"Let him go, Jenna," said Silas. "He doesn't understand what's going on." That's right! Because I am just a clueless silly little boy!

"Alright." She said releasing me from the armlock. "But I think he's a pig!"

I sat up slowly, rubbing my arm. I don't like the way everyone was glaring at me. And I didn't like the way Jenna called me a pig, after she had been so nice to me before. I huddled by myself as far away from Jenna as I could get and tried to work things out things out in my head. It wasn't easy. Nothing made sense. I tried to remember what they told me in the Young Army. Facts. There are only facts. Good facts. Bad facts. So:

Fact One. Kidnapped: BAD.

Fact Two. Uniform stolen: BAD.

Fact Three. Pushed down rubbish chute: BAD. Really BAD.

Fact Four. Shoved into cold smelly boat: BAD.

Fact Five. Not killed by Wizards (yet): GOOD.

Fact Six. Probably going to be killed by Wizards soon: BAD.

I counted up the GOODs and the BADs. As usual the BADs outnumbered the GOODs, which didn't surprise me.

I got out of the boat and looked up. I saw something that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

Magyk. Powerful Magyk.

I stared at Marcia. Although no one else seemed to have noticed, I could see the Magyk haze that surrounded her. It glowed a shimmering purple, flickering across the surface of her ExtraOrdinary Wizard Cloak and giving her dark curly hair a deep purple shine. Her brilliant free eyes shimmered as she gazed into infinity, observing a silent film that only she could see. Despite my Young Army anti-Wizard training, I found myself awestruck in the presence of Magyk.

"They're coming back!" Jenna yelled.

"We've got to hide the boat," said Nicko, jumping up and running along the grassy bank, followed by Jenna.

Silas shoved the dog out of the boat and told him to go and lie down.

Marcia decided to stand back so everyone else, myself included, waded into the shallow water and pushed Muriel clear of the sand so that she was floating again. Then Nicko grabbed the rope and pulled Muriel along Deppen Ditch until she rounded a corner and could no longer be seen from the river. The tide was falling now, and Muriel floated low in the Ditch, her short mast hidden by the steeply rising banks.

The sound of the Hunter screaming at the oarsmen drifted across the water, and Marcia stuck her head up over the top of the Ditch to see what was going on.

"I shouldn't do this," said Marcia, "I really shouldn't. It's petty and vindictive and it demeans the power of Magyk, but I don't care."

Jenna, Nicko, and I rushed to the top of the Ditch to see what Marcia was about to do. As we watched, Marcia pointed her finger at the Hunter and muttered, "Dive!"

The Hunter raised his arms elegantly above his head and carefully pointed his hands toward the water. The. He slowly bent his knees and dived neatly out of the bullet boat, performing a skillful somersault before he landed perfectly into the freezing cold water. Reluctantly, and rather unnecessarily slowly, the oarsmen rowed back and helped the gasping Hunter into the boat.

"You really shouldn't have done that, sir," I heard one of the oarsmen say. "Not in this weather."

I had to stifle my laughter as the Hunter had the boat turn back around and head to the castle. Tonight was just not his night. Not only did the trail go cold, he was cold, probably freezing, and he broke a finger.

"Serves him right," said Marcia. " Horrible little man."

"Not entirely professional," a familiar voice boomed from the bottom of the Ditch," but completely understandable, my dear. In my younger days I would have been tempted myself."

It was the ghost from the Wizard Tower.

"Alther!" gasped Marcia, turning a little pink..

"Uncle Alther!" yelled Jenna happily. She scrambled down the bank and joined Alther, who was standing on the beach staring, puzzled, at the fishing rod he was holding.

"Princess!" Alther beamed and gave her a hug, which made no sense to me.

"Well, well," said Alther. "I used to come fishing here as a boy and I seem to have brought the fishing rod too. I hoped I might find you all here."

Jenna laughed. "Are you coming with us, Uncle Alther?"

"Sorry, Princess. I can't. You know the rules of Ghosthood:

A ghost may only tread

once more

Where, living, he has

trod before

And, unfortunately, as a boy I never got farther than this beach here. Too many good fish to be had, you see. Now," said Alther changing the subject, " is that a picnic backer I see in the bottom of the boat?"

Lying under a soggy coil of rope was the picnic basket that Sally has made up for us. Silas heaved it out.

"Oh, my back," he groaned. "What has she put in it?" Silas lifted the lid. "Ah, that explains it." He sighed. "Stuffed full of barley cake. Still, it made good ballast, hey?"

"Dad," remonstrated Jenna. "Don't be mean. Anyway, we like barley cake, don't we, Nicko?"

Nicko pulled a face but I felt hopeful. Food. I was so hungry-I couldn't even remember the last thing I had to eat. Oh, yes, that was it, a bowl of cold, lumpy porridge just before the 6 A.M. roll call this morning. It seemed like a lifetime away.

Silas lifted out the other rather squished items that lay under the barley cake. A tinder box and dry kindling, a can of water, some chocolate, sugar and milk. He set about making a small fire and hung the can of water over it to boil while we clustered around the flickering flames, warming up our cold hands in between chewing on thick slabs of cake.

I gulped down my share and finished off all the bits that anyone else had left too. Then I lay back on the damp sand and wondered whether I'd ever be able to move again. I felt as though someone had poured concrete onto me.

"Oops, wrong way up," I heard Jenna chuckle. "He's eaten it!" She exclaimed about ten seconds later.

"He would," said Nicko. "Rock cake for a pet rock. Perfect."

Soon the water in the can over the fire was boiling. Silas melted the dark chocolate squares into it and added the milk. He mixed it up, and when it was about to bubble over, he poured in the sugar and stirred.

"The best hot chocolate ever," Nicko pronounced. None of us disagreed as the can was passed around and finished all too soon.

Alther wafted over to the fire when we were done. He looked serious.

"Something happened after you left," he said quietly.

"What is it, Alther?" asked Silas.

"It's not that, Silas," he said. " Sarah and the boys are fine. But it is very bad. DomDaniel has come back to the Castle."

"What?" gasped Marcia. "He can't come back. I'm the ExtraOrdinary Wizard-I've hit the Amulet. And I've left the Tower stuffed full of Wizards-theres enough Magyk to keep the old has-been buried in the Badlands where he belongs..."

After all that food, and because they were boring me, I fell asleep. I dreamed I was in an underground tunnel. There was a beautiful golden boat. I recognized it from the old legends the older cadets would tell us at night. It was the lost Dragonboat of Hotep-Ra, the first ExtraOrdinary Wizard.

I woke up and there was no Alther but instead a witch telling a story.

"...DomDaniel fixes Alther with a baleful glare, his dark green eyes glittering with fury. Alther's bright green eyes net the stare unflinchingly, and he feels the Amulet loosen. He pulls hard, the chain snaps into a hundred pieces, and the Amulet comes away in his grasp.

"'Take it,' hisses DomDaniel. 'Buy I will be back for it. I will be back with the seventh of the seventh.'"

I've never heard the story to like that before. The way the ghost woman told It made it seem as if she was actually there.

In the story Alther becomes the ExtraOrdinary Wizard and DomDaniel leaves to the Badlands, at least according to the old legends.

"'As you have gained it, so you will lose it.' The story continued.

'Alther sighs. He knows this is true.

'As he makes his lonely way back to the Tower to begin the work of undoing DomDaniel's Darknesse, in a small room not so very far away a baby boy is born to a poor Wizard family.

'He is their seventh son, and his name is Silas Heap.'

Everyone started asking why how Alther got rid of DomDaniel. After the discussion ended, Alther told Silas and Nicko to take some canoes to a place called Marram Marshes. With that, Nicko and Silas created two canoes.

Soon Jenna, Nicko, and I were sitting in what Nicko had named the Muriel One canoe, and Silas and Marcia were squashed together in Muriel Two.

"Go on, Maxie," Silas told the dog. "Go and sit with Nicko."

The dog, thankfully, stayed in the other canoe.

"Can't you control that animal?" demanded Marcia.

"Of course I can. He does exactly what I tell him, don't you, Maxie?"

Nicko made a spluttering noise.

"Go and sit in the back, Maxie," Silas told the dog sternly. He then bounded over to Marcia and settled behind her.

"He's not sitting behind me," said Marcia.

"Well, he cant sit by me. I have to concentrate on where we're going," Silas told her.

"And it's high time you were going too," said Alther. "Before the snow really sets on. I just wish I could come with you."

The canoe I was in lead the way while Silas's canoe followed behind us.

Soon we reached a narrow channel and stopped.

"Do we go down here, Dad?" Jenna called to Silas.

Suddenly there was a piercing shriek from Jenna. I then found out why.

A slimy mud-brown hand with webbed fingers and broad black claws had reached out of the water and grabbed the end of the canoe.

I pulled Jenna back so she wouldn't fall in.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Boggart

The slimy brown hand fumbled along the side of the canoe, making its way toward Jenna. Then it grabbed hold of her paddle. Jenna wrestled the paddle away and was about to hit the slimy brown thing with it when a voice said, "Oi. No need fer that."

A seal like creature with slippery brown fur pulled itself up do that it's head was just out of the water. Two bright black button eyes stared at Jenna, who had her paddle still poised in midair.

"Wish you'd put that down. Could hurt someone. So where you bin, then?" the creature asked grumpily in a deep, gurgling voice with a broad marshland drawl. "I bin waitin' for hours. Freezin' in here. How'd you like it? Stuck in a ditch. Just waitin'."

"What is it, Jen?" asked Nicko, who was sitting behind me, probably trying to make sure I didn't do anything stupid. It's not like I could go anywhere or even do anything.

"Th-this..." Jenna pointed at the creature, who looked offended.

"What do you mean, this?" he asked. "You mean me? You mean Boggart?"

"Boggart? No, I didn't say that." Jenna muttered.

"Well I did. Boggart. That's me. I'm Boggart. Boggart, the Boggart. Good name innit?"

"Lovely," said Jenna politely.

"What's going on?" asked Silas, catching up with us. "Stoppit, Maxie. Stoppit I say!" Maxie, the dog, was barking a lot, probably something to do with the Boggart. I heard that dogs used to hunt boggarts down. It's probably still an instinct for Maxie to hunt them down.

The Boggart took one look at Maxie and disappeared back under the water. The Boggart reappeared at a safe distance. "You're nor bringin' that?" he said, looking balefully at Maxie. "She didunt say nothin' 'bout one a them."

"Do I hear a Boggart?" asked Silas.

"Yeah," said the Boggart.

"Zelda's Boggart?"

"Yeah," said the Boggart.

"Had she sent you to find us?"

"Yeah," said the Boggart.

"Good," said Silas, very relieved. "We'll follow you then."

"Yeah," said the Boggart, and he swam off along Deppen Ditch and took the next turning but one.

The next turning but one was much narrower than Deppen Ditch and wound its snakelike way deep into the moonlit, snow-covered marshes. The snow fell steadily and all was quiet and still, not to mention cold. Every now then the Boggart would stick his head out and say, "You followin'?"

"I don't know what else he thinks we can do," Jenna said to Nicko. I smiled as she continued talking. "It's not as if there's anywhere else to go."

But the Boggart continued to ask the question until we reached a small marsh pool with several overgrown channels leading off it.

"Best wait for the others," said the Boggart. "Don't want em gettin' lost."

Jenna glanced back, probably to see where 'the others' were.

As Silas propelled the canoe into the pool and wearily laid his paddle down, Marcia declared, "I am not sitting in front of that animal one moment longer. There's dog dribble all over my hair. It's disgusting. I'm getting out I'd rather walk."

"You don't wanter be doin' that, Yer Majesty," came the Boggart's voice from out of the water behind our canoe. "You don't wanter be walkin' round 'ere. You'll start followin' the Quake Ooze before you know it. There's many as had followed the Marshfire and there's none as has returned."

A rumbling growl was coming deep down in Maxie's throat. The fur on the back of his neck stood up, and suddenly, obeying an old and compelling wolfhound instinct, Maxie leaped into the water after the Boggart.

"Maxie! Maxie! Oh, you stupid dog," yelled Silas.

Maxie yelped and frantically dog paddled back to Silas and Marcia's canoe.

Marcia shoved him away. "That dog is not getting back in here."

"Marcia, he'll freeze," protested Silas.

"I don't care."

"Here, Maxie. C'mon boy," said Nicko. He grabbed Maxie's neckerchief and, with Jenna's help, hauled the dog into our canoe. The canoe tipped dangerously, but I had no desire to end up in the water like Maxie, so I grabbed hold of a tree root.

Maxie stood shivering got a moment, then he did what all wet dogs do: he shook himself.

"Maxie!" gasped Nicko and Jenna.

I said nothing. What did they expect? Its a dog and wet dogs have to dry themselves somehow. I didn't like dogs at all. The only dogs I had ever known were the vicious Custodian Guard Dogs, and although I could see Maxie looked nothing like them, I still expected him to bite at any moment. And so when macir settled down, laid his head on my lap, and went to sleep, it was just another very bad moment in my worst day ever. Though I had half a mind to push him off me.

"Boggart? Where are you Mr. Boggart?" Jenna called out politely.

There was no reply, just a deep silence that comes to the marshes when a blanket of snow covers the bogs and quags, silences their gurgles and gloops a sends all the slimy creatures back into the stillness of the mud.

"Now we've lost that nice Boggart because of your stupid animal," Marcia told Silas crossly. "I don't know why you had to bring him."

Well said, I thought.

"I can see a light!" said Jenna suddenly. "It must be aunt Zelda coming to look for us. Look over there!"

I followed her finger. A flickering was jumping over the marshes, as if bounding from tussock to tussock.

"She's coming toward us," said Jenna excited.

"No, she's not," Nicko said. "Look she's going away."

"Perhaps we ought to go and meet her," said Silas.

Marcia sounded unconvinced. "How can you be sure it's Zelda?" she said. "It could be anyone. Anything."

Everyone fell silent as we watched the light coming toward us, until Silas said, "It is Zelda. Look, I can see her."

"No, you can't," said Marcia. "It's Marshfire, like that very intelligent Boggart said.

"Marcia, I know Zalda when I see her, and I can see her now. She's carrying a light. She's come all this way to find us and we are just sitting here. I'm going to meet her."

"They say fools see what they want in Marshfire," said Marcia tartly. "And you've just proved that saying true, Silas."

Silas made to get out of the canoe, and Marcia grabbed his cloak.

"Sit!" she said as though she was talking to Maxie. But Silas pulled away. He climbed out of the canoe and stumbled off toward the flickering glow.

"Dad!" yelled Jenna. "Can we come too?"

"No you may not," said Marcia firmly. "I'm going to have to bring the silly old fool back."

As Marcia drew her breath, Silas tripped and fell headlong onto the boggy ground. Silas laid there for several seconds until he raised his hands to his head. He looked like he was struggling to free himself until he started to sink. It was Marshfire.

"Dad!" yelled Jenna, getting out of the canoe. "I'll help you, Dad."

"No!" Marcia told her. "No, that's how Marshfire works. The bog will drag you down too."

"But-but we can't just watch Dad drown," cried Jenna.

Suddenly a squat brown shape heaved itself out of the water, scrambled up the bank and, leaping expertly from tussock to tussock, ran toward Silas.

"What you doin' in the Quake Ooze, sir?" said the Boggart crossly.

"Whaaa?" Silas mumbled.

Silas was slowly sinking into the Quake Ooze. Suddenly Jenna sprang up again from the canoe, and Nicko went to follow her. I heard all about the Marshfire from the only survivor of a platoon of Young Army boys who had gotten lost in the Quake Ooze a few years earlier, do I grabbed Jenna and tried to pull her back into the canoe. Angrily, she pushed me away. I decided that would be the last time I willingly help her.

Great, I thought, I'm stuck with, not one idiot, but two more of them. The only sensible one seems to be Marcia.

"Stay there, miss," he said urgently. I gave another hefty tug on Jenna's sheepskin jacket, and she sat down in the canoe with a bump.

The Boggart leaned over Silas and breathed on him. Silas was free. The Boggart helped him up and rubbed the mud from his eyes.

"I told you Marshfire would lead you to the Quake Ooze. An' it did didunt it?" remonstrated the Boggart. "Yer all right now, sir. But it were close. I don't mind telling you that. Haven't had to breathe on a Brownie since they ransacked the cottage. Ah, Boggart Breath is a wonderful thing. Some may not like it much, but I always say to 'em, 'You'd think different if you was got by the Quake Ooze Brownies."

Silas mumbled something while the Boggart carefully led him back to the canoe.

"You'd best go in the front, Yer Majesty," Boggart said to Marcia. "He's in no fit state ter drive one a these things."

Marcia helped the Boggart get Silas onto the canoe, and then the Boggart slipped into the water. "I'll take you to Miss Zelda's, but mind you keep that animal out me way," he said, glaring at Maxie. "Brought me out in a nasty rash that growlin' did. I is covered in lumps now. Here feel this." the Boggart offered his large round tummy for Marcia to feel.

The look on her face made me want to laugh out loud.

"It's very kind of you, but no thank you, not just now," said Marcia faintly.

"Another time, then."

"Indeed."

"Right then." the Boggart swam toward a small channel I had not noticed before. "Now, you followin'?" he asked, not for the last time.


End file.
